Weekday Wisdom Episode 101

I’ve talked about this on my blog before: Inquiring within to gain an understanding of who you are and what makes you tick. This is a key differentiating factor in your message.

For example, I’m a speaker coach and I’m a book coach. Well, there are a lot of speaker coaches and book coaches out there. But what makes me different is my personality and what I bring to the table. How I’m able to figure out what I bring to the table is by inquiring within.

Why this topic today? Something happened on the way to work that made me realize that there’s a technique I haven’t talked about for understanding who you are what makes you tick. And that is: What moves you?

You see, I was sitting on the bus and it was at a stop. I happened to look up, and sitting there across the street on the sidewalk, abandoned right in front of a high school, was a giant stuffed teddy bear.

I looked at this forlorn, stuffed teddy bear, and thought, “Ahh! It’s lonely.”

And that’s what I thought, “Wow. Why does that move me?” And that made me think about some other stories in my life; two of them I want to share with you.

The Death Throes of a Paramecium Move Me

The first one was back in the ’80s when I was in college. I was earning my bachelor’s degree at Santa Rosa Junior College. I was enrolled in a biology class. One day, we were told to look in the microscope at a paramecium, which is a single-celled critter. It’s kind of like a general blobby shape and it’s got little hair cells around it that undulate in order to swim around the water. Then we were supposed to put a chemical on the slide and watch the paramecium produce something I can’t remember what it was called. However, the assignment didn’t say what causes it to produce whatever it was.

So, I get my microscope and I’m looking at the paramecium. I think, “Oh! Isn’t it cute? Kind of swimming around with little hair cells undulating. Oh, how cute!” And then I put the chemical onto the slide — I remember it was blue. And the little paramecium swam up to where the chemical was. OK, this is probably totally me, but it seemed like it was curious. What is this blue substance?

And then it went into convulsions.

Then its cell membrane lysed.

It broke apart and emptied … and these things came out … and it was ….

It was horrifying.

I even wrote a blog post about it called “The death throes of a paramecium.”

A Mallard’s Mourning Moves Me

Another time that something happened that moved me was, I was living in Florida. My then husband and I were going to go out for the day — I can’t remember what specifically for.

As we’re heading out to the car, there’s a little bush along the walkway. And under the bush is a Mallard and it’s mate.

And it’s mate as dead.

The Mallard is trying to lift its mate’s head up as if to say, “Wake up!”

{Watch the video if you want to see how moved I still am about this!}

There was something so profound about the sorrow that was expressed in that move. It was like the Mallard was saying, “Please wake up. I love you.”

Of course, I spent the rest of the day crying off and on because it moved me so deeply.

What Moves You Says Something About Who You Are

What do these three stories tell you about me? They could tell you a lot. Or they could tell you a little. But I can tell you what they tell me.

First of all, one of my core essences is “kindness.” The loneliness of the stuffed bear, the death throes of the paramecium, and the mournfulness of Mallard, all spoke to me as an expression of kindness in some way — or, rather, the lack thereof.

Kindness is really important to me. And when I see things that are unkind it breaks my heart. And I want to fix it.

It also tells you that I have this sense of imagination that really helps me and my business. I can see things that other people don’t see because my brain extrapolates. And this is something I can use to help my clients.

It also tells you I’m a big softie. So, if you need a coach who is kind to you, and gentle with you, and is able to hold your hand when you are feeling scared or like you’re not enough, I’m probably your coach.

If you need someone who’s going to be a drill sergeant, I’m probably not your coach.

Take a look at your life. What are the stories that move you? And why do they move you? Take out a journal. Write them down. Find out what the through line is of these stories that move you.

These stories can be anything. They can be something you see or witness out in the real world, like the three stories I just told you. Or maybe it’s scenes from movies or television shows or commercials. Yes, there are commercials that make me cry. As I said, I’m a big softie.

What really gets you? Just makes you emote? That is a clue to your USP — or, what I like to call your “Unique Super Power.”

I hope you enjoyed today’s video. And if you did, please give it a thumbs up on YouTube. And I would love to hear from you, so comment below on the blog post or on YouTube.

I want you to be spreading your message in the world. So …

Think outside the box.
Spread your wings and fly.
Because you — yes, you right there — are capable of more than you know.

And, understanding the stories in your life that move you will help give you clues as to what you are capable of.

Video Version

 

Audio Version